Minseok clicks open the wooden door in front of him and a familiar, comforting smell is welcoming him right away as he enters his home. It’s been a long day for him, meetings and discussing concepts for a building he has to construct are enough to drain his energy but  being able to come home after all the works he did at the office is something that he’ll always be thankful for.

“I’m home~”

Minseok walks in to the living room. He’s expecting to see his son and his husband in the room as usual. Minseok lips curved up when he sees his two most precious people are sitting on the floor, their backs are facing him. His son is playing with his favorite mini fire truck while his husband is sitting next to him, playing along.  It’s a pleasant sight to see. Minseok can’t help but smiles and he feels some of the heavy weights on his shoulder have been lifted.

”Jaehan-a~” Minseok approaches the little boy and then he wraps his tiny body in his arms.

“Appa~” The boy squeals, hugs his Dad back and gives him a peck on the cheek.

“When did you come in?” Luhan links his arms to his husband’s, a usual gesture to welcome him when their son is around.

“About a minute ago.”

“I didn’t hear the door clicked open.” Luhan says as he leans closer to Minseok.

“You’re too focused on the fire truck, you play with Jaehan so well I thought he’s playing with his friend.” Luhan can only chuckles at Minseok’s statement.

“What did you do today at daycare, Xiamin?” Minseok asks, eyes focusing on his son who is mumbling something while moving his toy car back and fro. “Did I say it right? Xiamin?” He turns his gaze to Luhan.

“It’s Xiao-min, there’s an ‘o’ in it.”

“Right, Xiaomin… “ Minseok nods, “I think I’ll just stick with Jaehan.” He adds quickly.

Luhan chuckles and rolls his eyes. Xiaomin is Jaehan’s Chinese nickname that is given by Luhan’s Mom. She’s expecting Jaehan to be familiar with that nickname since the little boy is half Chinese and half Korean and his parents are Chinese and Korean so Luhan’s mom thinks it is better for her grandson to know about Chinese culture even though he will be raised mainly in Korea
.
“Why is this room so messy?” Minseok nags, “What did you do all day Luhan?” He adds while picking lego pieces near him then throwing it to its box.

Luhan looks around the room. The living room does look untidy. He doesn’t have time to clean the house because Jaehan unusually demands his full attention today and he also has to make translation for some articles and design a web advertisement that his boss assigned him to.

“I was working while taking care of Xiaomin, you know he gets bored easily and moves around a lot.” Minseok knows it’s not easy for his husband to work at home as a freelance translator and web designer while taking care of their kid at the same time, so he doesn’t continue their conversation.

The older man picks an ironman figurine and a teddy bear from the floor then he puts it on the small table  near him before he walks to the kitchen.

“Luhan, I’m hungry. Can you heat up some food while I’m taking a bath?”

“Sure.”


-



When Minseok is out of his bed room while drying his hair with a towel, he sees that his dinner is ready. Minseok looks at the plates on the table and he notices there is a plate for his son too, though it’s passed his dinner time now.

“Jaehan hasn’t eaten?” Minseok asks as he pulls the dining chair.

“He hasn’t eaten proper meal today, only milk and biscuits.” Luhan answers while putting a plate of eggroll and kimchi.

“Xiaomin let’s eat~” Luhan says as he picks up his son who’s still playing by in the living room.

Minseok straightens his chopstick as he looks at a simple dinner meal in front of him, a bowl of soup, eggroll, stir meat, and kimchi. Luhan puts Jaehan’s plate in front of him.

“Xiaomin let’s eat, you want to eat by yourself?” Luhan asks as he gives his 36-months-old son a spoon. But Jaehan ignores it, he focuses on playing with his mini fire truck instead.

“Xiaomin, a~~” Luhan says as he put a small spoon in front of Jaehan’s mouth but the little boy shakes his head and pushes the ladle.

Minseok looks at his son and his husband respectively. Luhan looks tired, more tired than usual. He must be had a tough day too. The Korean dad wants to help his husband to feed their son but Luhan is better at feeding their kid and besides, he needs to eat first.

Luhan keeps trying to persuade Jaehan to eat but the kid keep insisting, so Minseok speaks, “Jaehan, eat your food.” Jaehan shakes his head and pout.

“Just one spoon, a~” Luhan tries again.

“I don’t want to eat.” Jaehan whines as he put his hands on his lips.

“You haven’t eaten since morning.” Luhan says, almost like he’s whining back, “What do you want to eat?”

“Hmm…Jelly.!”

“No, pick any food on the table that you want to eat. Do you want eggroll? You like eggroll.” Luhan utters as he picks a piece of eggroll.

“No!” Jaehan squeals, he frowns at his Dad and pushes his plate.

“Jaehan.” Minseok warns but the kid ignores his Dad’s call.

“Does he have a fever? Stomachache?” Minseok observes his son’s gestures, the little boy seems like can’t stay still and he doesn’t want to look at Luhan or at him.

Jaehan doesn’t usually act like this. Minseok knows that his kid is at the age when his mood is like a rollercoaster but it has never affected his appetite before.

“Daddy I want jelly!” Jaehan demands, his small hands banging on the table which attach to his crib.

“KIM JAEHAN!” Minseok snaps, the said boy flinches but the Dad pretends that he doesn’t see it, “Listen to Daddy, eat your food.”
Minseok exclaims with lower but still-serious-tone. Jaehan sulks and rubs his eyes, it’s a sign that his tears will flow out in any moment.

“Shh… it’s okay sweetheart, don’t cry.” Luhan says softly but it makes Jaehan cries even more. Luhan decides to pick Jaehan up from his crib then hugs him. “It’s okay… I’ll give you jelly after you eat, okay? Don’t cry.” Luhan tries to comfort him by caressing his back.

Minseok sighs and puts down his bowl. Giving his son a lesson is still a hard thing to do for him but if he doesn’t do it, Jaehan will take control of his Dads and Minseok is not fond of that idea at all.

“Here, let me.” The Korean dad says as he stands up, “Jaehan, come to Appa.” The little boy shakes his head as he tightens his hold to Luhan’s shirt.

“Minseok, you don’t have to…I can handle this… just…”

“I know you can Luhan, I just need to talk to him.” Minseok pulls Jaehan from Luhan’s tight hug, the little boy doesn’t fight back though his tears are flowing hard, “It’s okay kiddo, let’s talk for a moment okay?”

“Don’t be too hard on him Minseok, he’s only three!” Luhan says worriedly.

Jaehan is not even three yet.


-


Minseok brings Jaehan to his son’s play room then he puts his son’s down from his embrace, “Kim Jaehan, stop crying.” Minseok commands as he wipes Jaehan’s tears from his cheek, “Stand straight.”

“Why don’t you want to eat?” Minseok asks while trying to make his boy looks at him but Jaehan’s eyes keeps staring at the floor.

“You like daddy’s eggroll, daddy cooked it for you.” Jaehan wipes his nose and bites his lower lip.

Minseok exhales, he doesn’t have a choice but to give his son a little punishment, “I want you to sit here, facing the wall for 3 minutes. When Appa comes back, Appa doesn’t want to see you cry, okay?” He says with soft but firm voice, “Sit still and stop crying.” He adds as he grips Jaehan’s shoulder to make him stop fidgeting.

Minseok goes out of the room, taking a deep breath as he sits on the couch in their living room. He’s thinking about what was just happened.  It’s really hard to see his son’s expression when he told him to stop crying. He feels sorry but his son needs to be taught how to be discipline.

Minseok keeps staring at the clock while biting his lips and trying to listen to any kind of voice that comes from the room. When the needle ticks for the exact 180 times, he goes back to the bedroom. He sees his son still sitting on the floor, facing the wall just like what he ordered him to do 3 minutes ago. Minseok notices Jaehan’s tiny shoulder trembles a little.

“Did you finish crying?” Jaehan doesn’t respond. Minseok takes a deep breath before he approaches the little boy.

“You have to eat your food even for a little, okay?” Minseok wipes the tears on his boy’s cheek, “I’m scolding you because you don’t listen.” The young dad opens his arms to hug Jaehan who automatically falls into his embrace.

”I’m sorry I yelled at you. Next time you have to listen to Daddy and Appa, okay?” Minseok caresses Jaehan’s back and he can feel the little boy nods his head.

Minseok holds Jaehan’s upper arms, just tight enough to make him stay still, “Say, yes Appa.”

“Yes Appa.” The little boy copies.

“Good boy.” Minseok hugs his son again, “Appa’s sorry, let’s goes back to Daddy, okay?” Minseok stands up and offers his right hand to Jaehan to hold.



-



They back to the dinner table. Luhan helps Jaehan to sit on his crib and gives him his water bottle, crying always makes his son thirsty.

The atmosphere in the dining room becomes heavy, none of them initiate to start a conversation. Luhan turns his head to see his son who is still gulping his mineral water then he looks at Minseok , wanting to hear some words from him but the elder is avoiding his gaze so Luhan gives his attention back to Jaehan instead. 

“Xiaomin, you wanna eat?” Jaehan nods,”what do you want to eat?”

“Meat.” Jaehan  says as he points to a plate of bulgogi. Luhan picks a small piece of beef and gives it to his kid.

“Is it good?” Luhan asks while staring at Jaehan who is chewing a mouthful of meat. The kid nods and grins at his Dad. Luhan smiles back before he picks up another piece of bulgogi, adding a pinch of rice this time. 

“Appa, a~~” Minseok looks at his son and smiles before he opens his mouth, “Thank you, our Jaehan is so kind.”

“You’re so kind.” Luhan pats his son’s head, “Eat a lot, okay?”

Luhan looks at Minseok, still trying to get some words about what did he do to their kid, the elder man only stares back at him while curving up his lips a little. Luhan knows Minseok is relief because their son finally eating his meal.

Later that night, when Luhan has read 2 Korean story book and another 2 books in Chinese for Jaehan before the kid is finally asleep, the Chinese man manages to sneak out and walks into his room. He gets on the bed then he lies closely to his husband who is focusing on watching late night news on their huge TV screen.

“Is Jaehan asleep?” Minseok asks, turning his sight from the TV to his husband.

“Yeah.”

Minseok shifts his position so he can lie closer to Luhan. He takes the latter’s hand then he caresses it, eyes gazing at the white ceiling above him, “Was I too hard on him earlier?”

“A bit, you never snapped like that before, it shocked him ... and me too.”

“I didn’t intend to snap. I don’t even know why I raised my tone like that.” Minseok utters while shifting his position to lay side way so he can see his husband. “God, I feel terrible. My heart hurt when I saw his eyes and tears flowing on his cheek.”

Luhan changes his position just like Minseok does, “I think you don’t need to suddenly raise your tone like that.”

Minseok huffs while turning his gaze from his husband, lying on his back, “You always defending him. He won’t listen to us if we keep treating him like a prince.”

“But he is our little prince.” Luhan argues.

“He’s gonna be a spoiled kid when he grows up Luhan.” Minseok states, staring at his husband with serious look.

Luhan looks at his husband and smiles defeatedly,“I’m sorry.” The Chinese man says as he grabs Minseok’s right hand under the blanket, “I don’t like it if you curve youreyebrow like that.” Luhan touches Minseok eyebrows to ease him, “I’ll try to be a little bit stricter from now on.” 

Minseok pecks Luhan’s lips then beams at him, “Let’s sleep, it’s been a very long day for us.” He says before Luhan has a chance to react.



-



It’s a new day. Minseok has woken up since 5 a.m because it’s his turn to prepare their breakfast. He is busy cutting carrot and onions while checking his sunny side eggs on the frying pan every 15 seconds, he doesn’t want those eggs to be burnt .

“Morning~” Luhan greets his husband as he approaches him.

Minseok turns his back to face the Chinese man, “Good morn…”

“Hug me.” Luhan cuts Minseok’s sentence.

“What?”

“Just hug me. I want a reminder that you love me.” Luhan demands as he opens his arms.

The Korean man chuckles, “What are you talking about Lu?” Minseok questions but he embraces the younger’s man body anyway.

“I love you.” Luhan utters, hugging his partner-in-life back.

“Love you too.” Minseok says while tightening his hold before he drops his arms then face the man in front of him.

Luhan giggles and looks at Minseok in the eyes. The latter rarely says those three words but when he does, it makes Luhan flatters and blush just like the first time he hears his husband says it 7 years ago on his 20^th birthday.

Luhan makes an attempt to touch Minseok’s soft lips with his, but Minseok backs away and gently squeezes Luhan’s shoulder instead, “No, wash up and brush your teeth first.” Luhan ignores Minseok’s order and he makes a second attempt, but Minseok’s grip on Luhan’s upper arms stops his move.

“Luhan, I need to cook my fried rice.” The elder man says, taking a glance at his fried rice on the pan, “go wash up now.”

Luhan pouts, “Yes  Appa…” He says as he makes a quick move to kiss Minseok on the cheek.

Minseok manages to tap Luhan on his bottom before the younger man walks to the bathroom.



-



Their breakfast is almost ready, Minseok asks Luhan to help him set their meal on the table while he prepares himself to work.

“Daddy.” Luhan sees his son standing near the dining table with eyes still half close and hair sticking out here and there.

“Good morning Xiaomin, did you sleep well?” Luhan asks while wiping the pan with soap.

“Daddy… wanna pee.”

“Come Jaehan, Appa will help you.” Minseok says, standing in front of the bed room door.

“Xiaomin, go with Appa.” Luhan adds.

The little boy looks at his Appa for a few seconds before he follows him to the bathroom. Minseok rarely helps Jaehan in doing his morning routine but he has no problem brushing his son’s teeth and washing his face.




-



Their breakfast is set on the table. The small family eat together on their dining table. Minseok is watching Jaehan eating as he enjoys his food, while Luhan is helping Jaehan scooping his meal and telling him how well he’s eating.

“Are you gonna take Jaehan to daycare today?” Minseok asks after he finishes his bowl of fried rice.

“No, I have no work to do, so I’ll be with him all day.”

“I probably can’t come home tonight, need to finish some works at the studio.” Minseok utters before he gulps down a glass of water.

“Okay…” Luhan responds, “Can you be back earlier tomorrow? Let’s celebrate Jaehan’s birthday.” and my birthday too.Luhan doesn’t say those four words out loud.

“Actually, I have a new project. I need to go to Jeju tomorrow morning and seems like I have to stay there for 2 to 3 days.”

“Oh.” Luhan huffs without looking at Minseok.

“I’m sorry, I’ll text and call you as often as I can when I’m there.” Minseok reaches his right hand to touch Luhan’s hand but the latter doesn’t react. Minseok pulls his hand back, he knows he’d get this kind of reaction but there’s nothing he can do
.
“I’m going now… Jaehan, finish your food okay? And listen to Daddy.” The Korean Dad stands up from his chair then kisses his son’s forehead.

Minseok takes a glance to his husband who is jabbing  his fried rice, “Luhan, are you mad at me?”

“…No.”

“Good, I know you can understand. I’ll be back in a few days.” Minseok gives a quick grip on Luhan’s shoulder before he walks to the door.



-



After Minseok left, Luhan is a bit cranky. He almost yells at Jaehan when he drops his rice bowl which has almost empty. Luhan takes a deep breath and count to 5 before he cleans up the rice that is scattered on the floor.

“Why did you drop your plate Xiaomin?” He says in his mother tongue.

The little boy stays silent but Luhan knows his son understands what he says, “Aren’t you sorry? Hmm?”

“I’m sorry Daddy.” Jaehan says, using the same langue as his Dad.

Luhan smiles at him while ruffling his hair, “It’s okay. Next time you have to be careful, okay?” Xiaomin nods.




-



Luhan joins with his little boy to watch Pororo, Jaehan’s favorite animation, in the living room after he finishes washing dishes. He watches his son singing along the show’s opening song and it never fails to make him smile. Anything Jaehan does always makes Luhan smile or amaze. Sometimes, he still can’t believe he’s raising another human being. He never imagine he would adopt a kid, not even in his dream, but when he met Minseok, he started to feel that everything is possible because they’ll do it together.

Minseok..

“Jaehan-a, it’s gonna be only the two of us on our birthday.“ Luhan sighs as he takes Jaehan to his lap, “It’s not fun isn’t it? Should we invite uncles to celebrate our birthday?”

“Yes.” The boy says. He slides down from Luhan’s lap and goes back to sit on the floor, eyes still focusing on the TV screen.

Luhan grabs his phone then he dials the number that he calls the most besides his husband.

“Yixing, are you free today?  Can you accompany me buying some stuff for Jaehan’s birthday?” Luhan asks as soon as he hears Yixing’s voice.

“I have something to do right now but I’ll be free after lunch time.”

“Alright then. Let’s meet at the supermarket around 1 pm? ”

“Okay ge, you’ll bring Xiaomin right? I wanna see him.” Luhan hears the younger says.

“Of course! Xiaomin will be happy to see uncle Yixing.” Luhan teases. He hears Yixng chuckles while mumbling an ‘ok’ before he cuts the phone line.



-




Luhan waves at Yixing when he sees the younger standing in front of the Supermarket’s entrance.
“Did we make you wait?”

“No, I just arrived.” Yixing says, his dimple is visible as he speaks, “Xiaomin, hi”

“Say hi, to uncle.” Luhan pushes his boy lightly to his front side.  The little boy bows a little then hides behind his Dad’s leg.

“He’s shy, it’s been a long time since the last time he met you.” Luhan caresses Xiaomin’s shoulder before he holds his hand.

“Yeah, he’s grown a lot.” Yixing comments, staring at the little boy with amazement, “How old is he again?”

“He’ll be 3 years old tomorrow.”

“Waah…time really flies so fast. I bet soon enough, you’ll take your boy to the soccer field and persuade him to be a soccer player.” Yixing states half joking.

“Actually, Minseok and I talked about it once. We think Xiaomin will be good at sport.” Luhan responds with thoughful tone.

Yixing doesn’t think Luhan would take his statement seriously so he just nods, “Shall we go in?” 

“Let’s go.” Luhan replies as he guides Xiaomin to walk next to him.

“Xiaomin, wanna hold uncle’s hand?” Yixing offers his hand but the little boy shakes his head, both of his small hands are holding to his Dad’s hand instead.

“It’s okay, you can go with uncle.”  Luhan pats his son’s head.

“Xiaomin, look what uncle has. Do you know what this is?” Yixing waves two pop sickles in front of the boy. Xiaomin lets go of his Dad’s hold and tries to grab the candy.

“Of course, the power of candy.” Luhan mumbles.

“You can go first ge. I’ll take care of him.” Yixing lifts Jaehan up and holds him to his embrace.



-




Luhan pushes the cart as he checks his to-buy-list, while Yixing shadowing Jaehan who’s running around here and there and stopping whenever he sees anything that interests him.

Jaehan runs to his dad then hugs his leg, after 10 minutes being away from his Dad, wondering around with Yixing’s trailing behind him.

“He runs a lot.” The younger says as he catches his breath.

Luhan laughs, “I know right. It’s tiring isn’t it? I’m sorry I made you did this.” Luhan says apologetically.

“No, it’s fine. I think watching over kid is a good way to exercise.” Yixing utters while ruffling Jaehan’s hair.

“Xiaomin, do you want to sit on the cart?”

“Yes.” His son replies while raising his arms, ready to be lifted.  Luhan picks Jaehan up from the floor then sits him down on the grocery cart.

“Do you always talk to him in Mandarin?” Yixing asks out of curiosity.

Luhan nods, “Most of the time.”

“Your kid is so smart, his Chinese is better than mine when I was his age.”

”It’s because he has a smart Daddy.” Luhan says proudly.

Yixing snorts as he nods his head, “Anyway, Minseok hyung really can’t be home on your birthday tomorrow?”

“Yeah, he said he needed to check on the location of his new project.” Luhan answers nonchalantly. Yixing’s question reminds him that he’s upset with his husband.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit odd? Telling you that he’ll be away on a special day just a day before. He should’ve told you earlier so maybe he can help you make a plan for Xiaomin’s birthday even though he can’t be here to celebrate.” Yixing says while glancing at Luhan, stealthily observes the older’s reaction to his words, “Not that I don’t like helping you buying groceries though.” He adds.

“Yeah, I think so too but Minseok’s kinda busy lately, he always comes home later than usual this past few weeks and he also don’t talk much.”Luhan responds, feeling more upset than before.

“But maybe it’s because he’s tired, many people want to work with a pro architect like him so, yeah…”

“You’re a good husband, ge.” Yixing pats Luhan’s shoulder as they walk to the cashier.

Luhan and Yixing bid their goodbye after Luhan finishes putting all the grocery bags to his car. Yixing makes the older man promises to come to his café tomorrow, he demands Luhan to celebrate his birthday with him. The older man accepts it happily; he doesn’t have anyone else to celebrate his birthday anyway.



-



Luhan is getting a year older today. He starts his morning routine as usual, making breakfast for his son, preparing him to go to daycare and cleaning the house a little bit. Something that makes his morning a bit different is, today is the first time he celebrates his birthday and also his son’s birthday without Minseok. The Chinese Dad has to put the birthday snack packages and order a birthday cake for his son all by himself. The amount of works Luhan has to do is quite overwhelming without Minseok helping him.



-


Jaehan celebrates his birthday at daycare with his friends. Luhan takes a lot of photos of Jaehan eating his cake and feeding his friends their slice of cakes, he even asks the teacher to record Jaehan’s every moves. Jaehan has a blast celebrating his birthday and it makes Luhan relieved, at least one of them feels delighted on their birthday.

After spending a few hours at daycare, Luhan takes Jeahan to Yixing’s café to celebrate his birthday there as he promises.

“Xiaomin, are you ready to go to another party?” Luhan puts down Jaehan to his seat on the back and tightening his seatbelt.

“Daddy, are we going to eat more cakes and ice cream?”  The word ‘party’ excites the little boy.

“Yes, we’re gonna eat more cakes and ice cream at Yixing’s uncle café.”  Luhans answers which makes his son claps and swings his feet.

The Chinese dad closes the car door then gets on to the driver seat. “Let’s have fun today even though Appa is not here with us, okay?”

“Yes~”  Luhan hears his boy’s answer. He turns on the car engine and set the GPS to navigate him to Yixing’s café.



-



At the café, Yixing welcomes Luhan as soon as the latter steps in to his café. The younger puts on a birthday hat to Jaehan before he lifts the little boy up then holds him on his arm. Yixing guides Luhan to a long table where his friends have been waiting for him.
Luhan is welcomed by his friends that he met when he used to work as graphic designer at K&M Studio. They greet him a happy birthday while giving Luhan a quick hugs. Luhan doesn’t expect to see all his friends sitting on the same table to celebrate his birthday. He can’t be more grateful to Yixing for doing this for him.

Luhan chats and laughs together with his friends until he realizes the sky is getting dark and Jaehan starts to be whiny and sleepy. He assures his friends that they’ll meet again soon as he holds Jaehan up. The Chinese man waves at his friends before he walks out of the café.



- 


Luhan turns off his car engine and looks at Xiaomin on the back seat through the windshield. Jaehan is sleeping soundly; he must be very tired from celebrating his birthday at daycare and celebrating his Dad’s birthday at the café earlier. But Luhan believes his son is having fun today. He steps out of his car and he opens the backseat door, slowly loosen his son’s seatbelt then lifting him up to his embrace.

After Luhan puts Jaehan to his bed, patting his chest softly until he’s sure his boy is in deep sleep. He walks out of his son’s room then he goes to the kitchen. He pulls a chair on the dining table before he sits on it then he gulps a glass of water while looking at his phone. It’s almost 8 pm. Minseok hasn’t called or texted him at all today. Luhan sighs as he puts the glass on the table.

The Chinese man looks around the room and he finds an unfamiliar paper is attached on the fridge. He squints his eyes before he steps closer to it, “Read me.” He mumbles while smiling because he knows the hand writing too well.



To my dear Xiaomin’s Dad.

Happy birthday Xiaolu! Time really flies so fast. It feels like just a few days ago I fell for you, went to coffee date for the 1^st time with you, had a fight, broke up and until finally I asked you to marry me. But apparently, it has been 7 years. I’ve been falling for you for the past 7 years and I’m not gonna stop, I can’t stop falling for you. Thank you for being by my side for all this years, thank you for being my life-support, thank you for being there when I was in the lowest  and thank you for being Xiaomin’s Dad. You are the manliest, the most patient and caring Dad I’ve ever known (beside my Dad  >.<)
When you said you need to be reminded that I love you, I was kinda shocked and I felt bad. I realized that  I didn’t express my love much to you these days. You know that I can’t really express my feeling, right? I hope you can tolerate me this time as well.
I love you Luhan, I really do, even when you think that my love for you is in the state where it’s not as much as before, I still love you the same, even more. We promised to love each other even when we hate each other. I’ll keep my promise until death do as apart.
Once again, happy birthday~~ let’s raise our kid together, live healthily and happily. I’m so so so lucky to have you. I love you, always.


Yours Eternally,
Xiaomin’s Appa




“Happy birthday~” Luhan hears a familiar voice from his back. He sees his husband standing a meter away from him, a birthday cake on his hand.

“Put down that cake.” Luhan wants to sound serious but he can’t hide his smile.

“Promise you won’t hit me if I put down this cake”

Luhan rolls his eyes, “Put down that cake so I can kiss you properly.”

Minseok giggles, he puts the cake on the table then he opens his arms, ready to embrace his beloved husband.

He closes his eyes when Luhan’s right hand cups his cheek and soft lips touch Minseok’s lips eagerly. Minseok’s lips curve up as he kisses Luhan back. The older man’s arms wrap around the younger’s waist, pulling him closer. The kiss is familiar; it’s comforting, it makes him know that he’s home and it’s also exciting as always.

Minseok sees sparks whenever they kiss like this. The sparks aren’t as big and exhilarating as the first time but the tingling sensation is still there, it never changed.  He knows Luhan can feel it too, it’s shown on the younger’s eyes.

“How could you do this to me?” Luhan punches Minseok on his belly lightly.

“Because you’re easy to trick.” Minseok says before he pecks Luhan’s lips again. “Did you read my letter? Everything that was written on it, I really mean it.”

“Can you read your letter for me?” Luhan requests as he wraps his arm around Minseok’s waist, minimizing the gap between them.
“What? Why? I wrote the letter because I want you to read it not hear it.”

“But I want to hear it.” Luhan pokes Minseok’s ribcage while giving the letter to him.

“No.” Minseok shakes his head.

“Oh come on it’s my birthday.”Luhan whines, shoving the small paper to his husband’s hand.

“I don’t want to!”Minseok raises his voice.

“Sshh.. you’ll wake Xiaomin up!” Luhan scowls. He looks at Jaehan’s bedroom while listening to any small noise that may come from the room.

“You’ve known the content anyway, there’s no point if I read it again.” Minseok whispers after he’s sure he doesn’t wake Jaehan up.

“Of course there’s a point! I want to hear you say the content of your letter!”

“No, it’s embarrassing!”

“Oh come on Jaehan Appa, please..?” Luhan nags again.

Minseok sighs; after all this time, he still doesn’t know how to handle a naggy Luhan, “Alright, which part?” He asks while looking at his letter.

“From the top”

Minseok chuckles to hide his annoyance, “The candles are still on, make a wish and let’s eat the cake.”

Luhan snorts in disbelief, doesn’t know how to respond to the way his husband turns down his request.

“Make a wish lu ge.” Minseok says, ignoring the Chinese man’s incredulous look.

Luhan sighs before he closes his eyes and makes a wish. He’s not sure what else to wish for; he has everything he wants right now, a loving husband, a cute energetic child, stable finance, and health so he just wishes that things will keep going on like this. Luhan opens his eyes then blows the candles.

“Okay, let’s cut the cake now.” Minseok takes out the candles from the cake and he gives Luhan a cake slicer.

“Minseok, you haven’t fulfilled my request.”

“This cake is blueberry flavored and fresh-baked, it must be delicious.” Minseok states as if he can’t hear Luhan’s interruption.
Luhan laughs then he pecks Minseok on the cheek, “I’ll keep bugging you until you read the letter out loud.”
 

END